Port Rules Launch Smoothly

No Problems Reported In South Florida For Sweeping New Security Standards.

July 2, 2004|By Doreen Hemlock Business Writer

Just before Thursday's deadline, workers at the Port of Palm Beach labored overtime, finishing installation of fences and even checking that trucks had the proper radius for turns to comply with new anti-terrorism rules for ports and ships.

The efforts paid off, with no problems reported at the Palm Beach port as of Thursday afternoon or at any major port in South Florida or across the state, officials said.

Indeed, for most major seaports and ships in the United States and worldwide, it was business as usual Thursday.

"Do you remember that commercial, "How do you spell relief?" joked Lori Baer, deputy director of the Port of Palm Beach, voicing a widespread sentiment. "I'm just thrilled how smoothly things are going."

Coast Guard regulators for South Florida said they closed no port facilities Thursday, but denied entry to one foreign-flag vessel and expelled four others for failing to meet U.N. rules. All the affected vessels were small ships that use docks on the Miami River and not big cargo or cruise vessels that call on the area's major seaports: Port of Miami, Port Everglades and the Port of Palm Beach.

Denied entry was empty Bolivian freighter, Dahomey Express, which apparently was seeking to pick up cargo. The names and origins of the other ships were not released.

Security specialists said it was too early to tell whether Thursday's results were typical or how much shipping might ultimately be affected by the new rules, the world's most sweeping maritime security rules ever.

"We need to give the Coast Guard, the ports and ships time to sort out the kinks, before we have a real measure of the interruption to commerce that may occur," said Kim E. Petersen, president of consulting firm SeaSecure LLC of Fort Lauderdale.

Around the globe, shipping also proceeded with few glitches, although U.N. data showed just 69 percent of ports and 86 percent of cargo ships had their security plans approved by Thursday.

Operations at Rotterdam, the world's largest cargo port, seemed typical. Just one ship of 70 arrivals by Thursday afternoon was stopped for failing to comply with the new rules. Eight others held back will probably be certified before they leave the Dutch port, spokesman Minco van Heezen told Bloomberg News.

Furthermore, only six of the 70 ships arriving Thursday in Rotterdam had visited terminals that didn't meet the code.

"The vessels were warned about the facilities before arriving, and security guards were put in place to oversee operations," so cargo activities could continue normally, said Rotterdam's van Heezen.

Thursday's relatively smooth operations did not dull controversy, however, over the rules, their funding and the broad leeway given regulators over enforcement. Many in trade circles remained nervous that tougher enforcement could be forthcoming, as final lists of non-compliant ports and vessels were compiled.

Executives are worried that ships serving the Caribbean could be hard hit, because many smaller, poorer nations lacked the technical resources and funding to meet the U.N. deadline. The Coast Guard can stop any vessel, inspect it and even deny it entry to U.S. waters if any of the last 10 ports it visited aren't in compliance.

Some good news emerged from the islands Thursday, however. Jamaica said it had met U.N. requirements, as did St. Kitts-Nevis in the eastern Caribbean.

Executives from Jamaica, which operates a major trans-shipment port in Kingston, said they invested heavily to meet standards, knowing that otherwise, they'd lose shipping business to rival hubs such as Panama.

Even so, there's concern that cargo coming to Jamaica from non-compliant ports "is classified as being `contaminated,'" and could slow business, David Yee Sing, Managing Director of International Shipping Ltd. in Kingston, told the Jamaica Information Service.

The security issue -- its funding and effectiveness -- has emerged as a political hot potato in the United States and worldwide.

America Coming Together, or ACT, which describes itself as a progressive, grass-roots group to educate voters, on Thursday noted that Florida ports have paid dearly to comply with the tough new U.S. rules, sometimes redirecting funds from other needed projects because of insufficient federal funding.

"The administration keeps talking about homeland security, but if the funding isn't there, there's a disparity between the rhetoric and the action," said Joy-Ann Reid, ACT's deputy director for communications for Florida. She said the administration "is making this a campaign issue" by focusing on security in the run-up to elections.

Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.